Ondrej Sobola

Ondrej Sobola (7 August 1880 – officially 31 December 1918) was an Austro-Hungarian Army soldier. His death, in an unknown place during the First World War, inspired the Tree of Peace project.[1]

Ondrej Sobola
Andreas Szobola
Sobola in a commemorative plaque
Born(1880-08-07)7 August 1880
Lalinok, Austria-Hungary
Disappearedc. 1915
Eastern Front
Died31 December 1918(1918-12-31) (aged 38), officially pronounced dead in 1930
MonumentsTree of Peace and two commemorative plaques in Lalinok and in Bad Ischl
NationalityAustria-Hungary
Occupation(s)farmer and worker
Known forTree of Peace
SpouseJozefína Rapšíková
RelativesMarek Sobola

Biography

Sobola was born on 7 August 1880 in Lalinok into a farmer family. His family had lived in the area since 1512.[2] He was conscripted into the army in 1901.[3] Sobola and his older brother Štefan travelled to the United States around 1906, residing in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania.[4] Sobola returned to Lalinok in 1907, living there for three years, and again traveled to the United States on 30 November 1910.[5]

Sobola had returned to Lalinok by 1914. After the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted in the 15th Military Infantry Regiment.[6] He was listed as missing in action on the Eastern Front in 1915. Sobola was one of those commemorated by his home village in a memorial to First World War dead on 11 November 2018.[7] His portrait made by sculptor Michal Janiga is also incorporated on a Memorial. His name is on a Memorial pillar in the Emperor's park of Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl.[8]

A Tree of Peace in Imperial Park, Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl.

Tree of Peace

The Tree of Peace is an international project that originated in Slovakia. The project, created in 2018 on the centenary of the end of World War I, was initiated by landscape architect Marek Sobola, Ondrej's great-grandson.[1] The grave of Sobola has not been found after many years of historical searching in Military archives across Europe. His great-grandfather's death inspired Sobola to memorialize the soldiers who died in the First World War in unknown places without their names or identities. The main goal of the project was to promote a message of peace by planting "Trees of Peace" on every continent.[1]

See also

References
  1. Sobola, Marek (14 December 2018). "INTERNATIONAL PROJECT "THE TREE OF PEACE"" (in Slovak). Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  2. Sobola, Marek (8 January 2019). "Obecná kniha – Príhovor" (PDF). Informačník Obce Divinka – Lalinok (in Slovak). Village of Divinka (published 2018). 1: 9.
  3. Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces of Czech Republic, Military Central Archives, Fund: Tribal – Qualification sheets of soldiers born until 1910 (Czech: Kmenové – kvalifikační listy vojáků narozených do roku 1910). The Tribal list No. 109 of 1901.
  4. Sobola, Marek. "The genealogical research of Sobola and Lašút descent in the light of archival sources : bachelor thesis". Nitra : Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 2014. 73 pp.
  5. "The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island, Passenger search: Ondrej Sobola". www.libertyellisfoundation.org. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  6. Tsarskoe Selo State Museum. "Tree of Peace by Martial Chamber". eng.tzar.ru. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  7. Sobola, Marek (11 November 2018). "100. výročie veľkej vojny: V obci Lalinok si uctili pamiatku obetí globálneho konfliktu" (in Slovak). Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  8. "Tlačová agentúra Slovenskej republiky - TASR.sk". www.tasr.sk. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
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